Windows 10 B, C and D Updates...

Seriously, MS is getting weirder and weirder...

"The big updates most people are familiar with come out on “Patch Tuesday,” the second Tuesday of the month. These are called “B” updates because they’re released in the second week of the month. That explains why there are no “A” updates, as Microsoft doesn’t generally release updates in the first week of the month.

B updates are the most important updates, featuring new security fixes. They also contain previously released security fixes from prior B updates and previously released bug fixes from prior C and D updates.

They’re the main, most important type of Windows Update. They’re also predictable for system administrators, who know when to expect them."

C and D Updates:

“C” and “D” updates are released in the third and fourth weeks of the month, respectively. These do not include any new security updates.

These updates just include new bug fixes and improvements for other non-security issues. Microsoft says C and D updates are “optional,” and Windows Update won’t automatically install them on your PC.

According to Microsoft, “D” updates typically include the majority of non-security updates. This gives people a few weeks to test them before those non-security fixes are released to everyone in the next B update. Microsoft sometimes releases “C” updates in the third week of the month for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and older versions of Windows 10, which gives people more time to test them."

What really matters is when and how you update!

Windows Update doesn’t automatically install C and D updates on most PCs. However, it does install C and D updates when you head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click “Check for Updates.” In Microsoft’s world, this makes you a “seeker” who wants to test these updates before most Windows users get them. Microsoft disclosed this in a recent blog post.

So, if you click “Check for Updates” in the third, fourth, or first week of a month before the next B update has been released, you’ll probably get a C or D update installed on your system. If you never click “Check for Updates,” you’ll stick with the better-tested B updates.

All of the above is true. So help me. We've stepped through the mirror for sure, this time.

Sooo...now you know. B's on first, C and D are on third and fourth but only before B.

Sort of like "i" and "e" before "c"... but then, that's a different "c".

And with that I'll just say...

Oh yes...and if you have questions, refer to the article linked above.

I don't know what MS is thinking but......if A > B > C > usually back to A to start all over again, like a circle, then what happens when they drop the D with nowhere to go but >>>>>>>>>Down to the nth part of sanity. I'm gonna sue MS for plagiarizing my insanity defense.

not sure what's wrong with this. this just means most people won't get anything but b. they probably would get better press if they call c & d beta patches or something.

not entirely sure they are correct to say the c & d stuff didn't go through insiders 1st.

What's wrong is that if you check for updates through Windows Update, you become a 'seeker' giving MS permission to install updates which are not fully tested and capable of screwing your machine but good.

And they don't tell you about that little surprise up front, alaknebs.

What's wrong is that if you check for updates through Windows Update, you become a 'seeker' giving MS permission to install updates which are not fully tested and capable of screwing your machine but good.

Thinking about it, surely MS is breaking the law by not disclosing important information such as users getting pretty much untested updates, like it or not, if they perform a Windows Updates search.

Surely it has to be an opt in thing, rather than being deemed a 'seeker' and having them installed on your machine regardless of whether you want or need them or not. Essentially, then, users are being used as guinea pigs to test relatively untried software ehen they go looking for an important update they may have missed.

I thought the 'Early Adopters Program' was for the testing and feedback of new software, etc. Now it seems that regular and possibly inexperienced users are being used in this way as well. And what happens when an inexperienced user gets their machine borked by MS' untried, untested updates? Most likely they have to take it to a PC tech to get it fixed.... at their expense, Nope, it's not right.

Personally, I think this is MS' workaround to force stuff down users throats again. A lot of users are using 3rd party programs to prevent automatic updates, which is fair enough, given MS' recent track record with botched updates. Thing is, those users then have to perform a manual search for any important updates and patches they would have missed.... and when they do, BAM, they get all the crap they were trying to avoid in the first place.

For mine, Microsoft has become a software/tech bully that treats its customers/users with complete arrogance and contempt. Users are all different, with different machines and different needs, but Microsoft is throwing a blanket over us all and saying: "This is what you need and will get, like it or not. And it it borks your machine, too bad. We are too big to sue, so just pay up and get it fixed."

Sadly, the people who could bring pressure to bear on Microsoft, politicians and big-name tech journalists, are all sitting on their hands and doing nothing. They all talk about the good stuff, never the bad. Makes you wonder just how many of them are on the MS payroll, don't it.

Well I'm decided about the updates. I already have auto-updates blocked, but given this situation, I will no longer search manually for them, either. I have an updates nag icon with a little red flag on my taskbar, but I shall continue to ignore it. If I need updates, majorgeeks hosts them and I can check out what they are and for before I download and install them.

Thinking about it, surely MS is breaking the law by not disclosing important information such as users getting pretty much untested updates, like it or not, if they perform a Windows Updates search.

I'm sure the lawyers put appropriate disclaimers in their TOU, Mark.

That's the problem, MS adds the appropriate disclaimers, then goes ahead and breaks the law anyway. It's no different to me running somebody over and killing them while driving without a license... I knew that I was doing the wrong thing but did it anyway. A disclaimer means nothing if the party of the first part deliberately does wrong after the fact.

thing is, inexperienced users won't get hit by this as inexperienced users generally don't touch check for update and let it all be done automatically (as ms intends). the only people screwed by this are those who know just enough to play blocking or modding stuff but not enough to know how to fix things.

and as i said, i don't think it says anywhere that this supersedes the insider program. i'm thinking this is a second layer of testing on top of insider.

not sure what law it's breaking. some sort of etiquette / social contract probably. law? unlikely.

Sure is! Just like when MS downloaded and installed Win 10 over a previous OS without warning or consent. Even when users blocked it via normal means, MS went ahead and installed it via Scheduled Maintenance in the middle of the night, like it did to me. Sneaky, underhanded and downright dishonest.

thing is, inexperienced users won't get hit by this as inexperienced users generally don't touch check for update and let it all be done automatically (as ms intends). the only people screwed by this are those who know just enough to play blocking or modding stuff but not enough to know how to fix things.

No, inexperienced users do check for updates, my sister being one of them. So yeah, they too get screwed by this bullshit.

and as i said, i don't think it says anywhere that this supersedes the insider program. i'm thinking this is a second layer of testing on top of insider.

Second layer or not, it is sneaky and underhanded. Insiders sign up for early releases and they know the risks, but adding update searches to that program is completely wrong, especially when there is little to no warning users will get untried, untested software/patches installed on their machines.

not sure what law it's breaking. some sort of etiquette / social contract probably. law? unlikely.

Not too sure, either, but other companies HAD to disclose what was included in bundled software downloads so that users were aware of added extras to the software they actually wanted. This is pretty much the same thing. Users may go looking for drivers or something and get a load of stuff they neither wanted or asked for. The same rules should apply to MS as those other companies.

the only people screwed by this are those who know just enough to play blocking or modding stuff but not enough to know how to fix things.

"Checking for updates" is not blocking or modding stuff. It also isn't volunteering to test updates which are less tested than what they're pushing down. Anyone who wants to test can be on the insider ring.

Am I the only one that feels that it's not just Microsoft, but the whole word that is slowly going insane?

The amount of blind stupidity and, most of all, arrogance in what Microsoft has been doing since Windows 8.x is - at least to me - simply mind blowing.

It's not that Microsoft wasn't always evil - everyone who ever got into bed with them ended up regretting it deeply later - but this is a whole new level of evil. I think even Stardock very nearly found this out with XP and UxTheme, although it was saved by Microsoft deciding to close the theme format at the last minute - but ONLY because badly made themes could crash the OS, not because they cared that such a thing would have essentially killed WindowBlinds.

the only people screwed by this are those who know just enough to play blocking or modding stuff but not enough to know how to fix things.

"Checking for updates" is not blocking or modding stuff. It also isn't volunteering to test updates which are less tested than what they're pushing down. Anyone who wants to test can be on the insider ring.

Exactly, Dave, users NOT on the Insider Program should NOT have to deal with alpha or beta software simply because they checked for updates. I certainly won't ever be checking again, I'm not willing to take the risk of something dubious from MS messing my machine up.

To put it bluntly, MS has become the epithomy of evil. Whatever trust and respect it may have had, well that's been lost as millions of users worldwide feel betrayed and let down by it.... Satya Nadella in particular.